Nova, we call her Nova
by superdoodlesmaximum
Summary: It all started with a bomb and a relationship between victim and savior. But what will happen when she starts to show unpredictable meta-human or alien abilities? Batman will show up a few times, as will members of the team. Angst, violence, romance, the usual. Please comment and be nice! Thank-you to everyone who reads, it is greatly appreciated. Red Hood will also be appearing.
1. Chapter 1

It all started with a bomb.

It happened at the Gotham Museum of Antiquities.

It was full of people, children especially; there was a field-trip from a local elementary school that was touring the museum. It was in the Dinosaur exhibit, just past the animated Tyrannosaurus Rex. As about fifteen of the students were examining the robotic creature's mouth an explosion echoed throughout the marble building and fractured its tile floors like glass. The children screamed and were corralled by their teacher and led towards the door as the floor began to shake and rumble.

However, _she_ was not so lucky. The bomb had been placed in the part of the museum that was dedicated to heroes that had fallen protecting the city of Gotham. Not all of them were super heroes, but men and women of the police force and military, even regular citizens that had fallen in the act of saving the city they loved. This was the exhibit that she was in, and the bomb was planted beneath a massive plaque that explained the purpose of this wing of the museum. As she stood there reading it, the bomb's silent timer quietly ticked away the seconds before it was finally armed and detonated.

There was a quiet hiss and a green-brown smoke came slowly billowing from beneath and around the plaque. The girl instantly knew that she was in grave danger and turned to run, but it was too late. The smoke intensified and the sudden explosion and fire sent her flying into a wall. She landed face first, slamming into it and fracturing her cheekbones and nose in an instant. Her right eye socket was fractured all the way around and she was bleeding heavily but wouldn't know until dayrs later that a support beam had fallen and shattered and one of the shattered pieces was embedded in her back just above her right kidney, just narrowly missing any vital veins or arteries.

The floor continued to rumble around her and she could hear people screaming and fire was spreading to every corner of the room. She tried to get to her feet and when she realized she couldn't stand, she tried to get to her knees and tried to army crawl out of the room. It was slow and agonizing but she managed to get out of the wing and into the main room of the museum. There were still people that were running and screaming, no one was stopping to check on anyone or to offer anyone assistance.

The girl was absolutely sure she would die there surrounded by fire with blood and smoke filling her lungs. Her eyes burned and she coughed despite the fight she had been putting up against it. Blood splattered everywhere and she collapsed in the main hall of the museum near the T-Rex. Her limbs were cold despite the flames that were now licking at her fingers and feet. Her clothes were starting to smolder and the skin underneath was puckering and blistering from the heat.

Her body began to shut down, her right lung now nearly entirely flooded with blood. Her eyes watered and burned, it was too intense and she shut her eyes. She was positive that she would die here. No one was going to be looking for her, she had no one that cared for her and there were so many girls at the orphanage where she lived that she doubted her absence would even be noted. Her breathing became a ragged and tiring experience and she decided to just stop-it was too hard.

Her body agreed and slowly her breathing weakened and lessened. She was hardly even aware of the fire around her anymore. If anything she felt like she was wrapped in a warm blanket fresh out of the dryer. It was comforting and she found herself smiling. She wasn't going to be conscious for much longer and she resigned herself to the comfort of her imagined warm blanket. There were crashes all around and a massive chunk of ceiling fell near her and blew out the fire leaving her shivering. There were more crashes as the museum began collapsing in on itself, its load-bearing supports no longer stable enough to do their job and fracturing from the heat. At one point, the fire came back and was licking her entire lower body but it felt nice. There was a final crash, the largest of all and she thought she could hear voices.

But that was impossible, everyone had already left and no one was going to run back in. If anyone else was in the museum with her they were no doubt dead or dying like she was.

It surprised her that the knowledge that she was dying didn't terrify her. She was at peace surrounded by the marble furnace that would be her tomb.

But apparently that was not mean to be. Suddenly she felt hands on her and could feel the presence of two people in front of her face.

"I thought they said everyone had evacuated?" It was the voice of a boy, he sounded surprised and slightly disgusted. "Good thing we decided to check or she'd be dead." The hands that she had felt were now gently but quickly turning her over. Her head lolled to the side once she was on her back and she began to cough up blood. "Hemoptysis, that's not good," the voice said. She gagged and choked. Now she was in pain, every nerve screaming in agony.

She wanted to fight, wanted to tell the person to put her down back in her warm blanket on the floor. Whoever was holding her was strong; she could feel the strength in the arms that were under her back and legs, along with some odd lumps that felt extremely uncomfortable against the gaping wound in her back. But she wasn't aware of it much longer because as she was swept up and the person holding her turned, her eyes closed and she knew nothing else.

The next time her eyes opened, they opened to the blank sterile room of a hospital. There was a TV mounted on the wall that was off, as were the lights. She was thankful for that because her head was pounding and the small amount of light that was coming through the blind covered window was stinging to her eyes. The air smelled _too _clean, and reeked of antiseptic. She realized her back and legs and the tips of most of her fingers were bandaged very heavily. She tried to move her legs and was rewarded with a horrible stinging pain that radiated up into her back and irritated the burns there. She screamed lightly and hissed in pain. Apparently a nurse had been walking passed the door and heard her, and walked in to check on her.

"Ah, you're awake," the nurse said with a smile. She was a small plump woman with green eyes and a smattering of freckles. Her shirt was purple with dozens of cats holding lollipops and other cats covered in candy wrappers. Her pants were an exact match. "How do you feel?" Was that really a necessary question? Would she have screamed if she wasn't in horrible amounts of pain?

"Horrible," the word was dry and broken when she spoke and burned her throat like fire. She figured her throat was most likely blistered from all of the heat from the fire. The nurse nodded and pulled a syringe of saline out of her pocket and unscrewed it, cleaning it and the end of the girl's IV before she flushed it, then pulled out a second syringe labeled Morphine.

"You're lucky we were able to find some people who know you otherwise you'd be getting Tylenol. We have this new rule; if we have no medical history then the person gets hardly any hard pain killers."

"That sounds cruel," she didn't want to speak but she couldn't help it. That was such an idiotic rule! The nurse nodded in agreement.

"The girl's home you live in was contacted and they rushed your medical files over quickly." She was surprised. She didn't think the woman that ran the home would have cared. But then again it would make her look like a horrible person if she just ignored one of her girls who had survived a bombing. "Okay, you can get this every four hours okay? And in the interim you'll get Toradol to keep the pain away, or at least the edge off. You've got some pretty nasty burns. Word is that you were right by the bomb when it exploded. " Instead of answering, the girl nodded. She didn't know how anyone figured that out. "Oh! Your right lung was also punctured and full of blood but don't worry; it's mostly healed up now. You've been out for a week," her mouth dropped. "But you picked a great day to wake up! Bruce Wayne and his new ward are coming to visit all of the victims of the bombing!" She was as giddy as a school girl and it seemed extremely unprofessional and severely irritating to the girl.

The Morphine hit her like a truck. Her head was suddenly swimming and her stomach burned. The burning spread to her extremities and forced all of the pain away. She sighed and relaxed into the pillow like a limp doll and the nurse smiled at her.

"That's it, just relax. Want the remote?" Without waiting for an answer she slid it under the girl's hand. "Mr. Wayne and his ward will be here in about an hour, if at any point you don't want to see him, hit the call button and let me know and I'll make her aware." With that the nurse smiled and left the room. The girl turned the TV on but kept the volume a little bit low-she could still hear it but it wasn't super loud or screaming at her. She inhaled deeply-It hurt her throat but the pain was quickly washed away but the drug coursing through her system.

The hour passed without any incident and she felt pretty comfortable for someone who had been unconscious for a week and whose body was covered from the waist down in bandages and burns. After a while there was a knock at the door and the plump nurse in her odd outfit popped her head into the doorway.

"Hey, are you okay to have visitors?" The girl nodded and attempted to sit herself up better on the small hill of pillows behind her. The nurse walked over and helped her but a voice put an end to it.

"Please, stay however you are most comfortable," Bruce Wayne walked in wearing a very neat suit, crisp and clean. His hair was swept back but messy in an oddly orderly way and his eyes were bright and dancing. He was a tall man and commanded all of the attention when he walked into the room without even trying. He stood there smiling as his ward walked in and stood next to him, also smiling and the nurse rushed from the room, but no doubt stayed right by the door.

"I'm glad to see you're awake. We were told that the young lady who was nearest to the bomb had been unconscious for a week; it was quite worrying to hear. How did you get out?" The girl shrugged and spoke despite the itch and pain it caused.

"I'm not sure. I felt someone pick me up and passed out then…woke up here," she felt the strongest urge to cough but knew that if she did it would possibly be the most painful cough of her life so instead she picked up a cup that was nearby in her bandaged and subsequently clubbed fingers and sipped it. The cold was horrendous but the moisture felt great so she dealt with it and drained the cup without thinking about it. The boy laughed a little.

"I told you she'd be fine. After a week with a scorched throat she can chug water with ice chunks in it? I'm Tim Drake," he smiled at her. The girl coughed, she couldn't help it. But neither of them seemed to notice. She _recognized _this voice. This was the voice from the museum. This was the person who rescued her! "So, what's your name?"

Bruce had made himself comfortable in a chair and was watching the TV.

"Shaley Winters."

"Nice to meet you miss Winters," Tim said with a smile.

"Miss Winters," Bruce started.

"Shaley," she corrected quickly. He smiled and nodded.

"Shaley, can you tell me a little about the explosion? Since you were so close you no doubt have some information and a statue of my father was destroyed so I'd like to know as much as possible." He said in an even voice. He didn't sound pushy at all, nowhere near as pushy as she thought the cops would. As soon as they found out she was awake, they'd swarm to her room like flies to a carcass.

She looked down for a moment and thought back to the day at the museum. At first what she remembered was blurry. She remembered the kids from the elementary school and the animatronic T-Rex roaring at them. She remembered the children's squealing laughter. And then she remembered walking into the heroes' exhibit. The statues were lifelike and there were many plaques that detailed the work that they had done for the city of Gotham. Then she remembered the smoke.

"There was smoke…greenish-brown smoke…it smelled horrible, like…rotten eggs. There wasn't a lot at first but it started to get thick in the air really quick. I turned to run away and warn someone, anyone, but…the bomb went off." Shaley remembered the explosion and being sent flying into a wall. Tasting blood in her mouth and the fire that had leapt to life all around her. A shiver ran up her spine and goose bumps erupted all over her skin. Tim and Bruce looked at each other with worry, but no pity in their eyes.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Bruce said and walked over to her, putting an apologetic hand on her uninjured shoulder. Shaley shook her head.

"It's fine. Better you than the police, I doubt they'll be as polite."

"I'll make sure that you speak to my personal friend. He's a very kind man; he won't push you at all." Bruce promised. In truth, he had already spoken to Commissioner Gordon to make sure that he as the only person who would question her due to her situation. And to make sure that when she was taken to the girl's home, that she would be treated kindly. He knew the home's reputation and it really irritated him. The thought of orphans in his city being treated less than respectfully in his city made him very angry.

"If you don't mind…I have a question for you," Shaley looked at Tim. He smiled openly at her. "How did you save me?" The shock on Tim's face was proof positive that it was indeed him that had pulled her from the fire. There was shock on Bruce's face as well, but far better hidden. He looked at Tim and wondered how he would handle the situation. "And...please don't say you didn't. I'll never forget the voice of the person who pulled me from that fire."

Tim opened his mouth, shut it, and opened it again before deflating. Bruce held in a disappointed sigh. He really thought Tim could do better than this.

"Thank you," Shaley said. "Thank you."

What else could Tim say but, "You're welcome."

A/N: Sorry for all the grammar issues at first, but I think I've fixed them all.


	2. Chapter 2

Shaley was in love with the tapioca pudding. She had eaten six cups before she and Tim had really gotten into any meaningful conversation. Bruce couldn't help the small smile that was plastered to his lips; he had never seen anyone enjoy tapioca that way before in his entire life. She had even licked the cups clean before starting in on another. Tim was almost surprised; he had never seen a girl put away that much pudding in his entire life.

"So, you recognized my voice?" Shaley nodded and sucked her spoon clean. She had been starving and didn't realize it until the first spoonful hit her tongue. After that the only thing she had been able to think about was putting more pudding in her stomach. Would she regret it later? Maybe, but at that point, she really did not care. "Could you explain how? I could barely hear myself over the roaring of that inferno and you were practically dead, so I'm just…confused."

"Well, I was more or less unconscious and the sound of the fire had gotten pretty monotonous. Your voice was so different from the fire and the falling rubble that I zoned in on it and focused on it…it was like a life vest. I was able to cling to it and…I really think your voice was the first thing that saved me, aside from being pulled from the fire that is." Shaley looked longingly at the empty pudding cups on the table that was over her legs. Tim had an odd sensation in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't fear at the fact this girl knew more about him-in a sense-than he would like, or fear at what Bruce would do and say when they got home. It was…a sincere and honest feeling of happiness. He was overjoyed to have some recognition for what he did on a daily basis. He saved lives all of the time but no one had ever had the chance to thank him and he never got that recognition. It felt great.

Bruce produced another pudding cup and slid it across the table. Shaley's face lit up and all of the seriousness in the room seemed to evaporate instantaneously. The nurse popped back in after a while, apparently it was time for Shaley's Toradol; she hadn't even realized that Bruce and Tim had been there that long. When the nurse left the room, after making sure that Shaley didn't want her to stay, she left in an almost imperceptible huff.

"I'm really happy I was able to save you, honestly, I am," Tim sat on the edge of the bed making sure not to jostle or harm Shaley's legs. "But you uhm…can't tell anyone that I did. I know that sounds really odd and kind of harsh but, I need you to keep it a secret." Shaley looked at him with as much confusion as he was expecting of her. It was an odd request to say the least but it was something he had to do. He had to keep his identity a secret. Everyone knew Batman and Robin had rescued this girl, if she went around telling people that Bruce Wayne's ward Tim Drake was the one that saved her, it wouldn't be too hard to connect the dots and figure out that Bruce Wayne was Batman and that Tim was Robin. And that was something that neither of them could afford to have happen. He just hoped that she would understand.

She dove into her new pudding cup and downed half of it before she finally answered. It was a simple answer. She said she promised she wouldn't tell anyone who saved her, just that it was a person she didn't see; who was brave enough to go into the fire and make sure no one was left behind. It would a story that everyone would believe, there was no reason not to. Even the witch that ran her "home" would have to believe it. At the word witch, Bruce turned and focused on her instead of the TV.

"What do you mean by witch exactly?"

"I'm being generous really. She's easily the most evil person that I have ever known. She makes us do all kinds of stuff. Keeping your area neat and clean, whatever that's fine. But she literally makes us scrub the toilets with toothbrushes, we all get woken up at three in the morning to make her breakfast, we do all of the cleaning and cooking and when someone is finally lucky enough to age out or get adopted, she goes into such a rage that she takes it out on us. One girl had been in an accident and was on medication for it, she withheld her medication from her. She always goes after the weak ones first. And she hates my guts so I'm positive that this is the only time I'll get the pain managed even a little." Shaley ate the rest of her pudding. It made sense now. She was probably trying to enjoy as much as she possibly could. It didn't sound like she had much to look forward to when she was released. An infuriated look crossed over Bruce's face and he quickly, quietly, and politely excused himself, promising he would be back soon.

Tim looked at Bruce then at Shaley and shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea what was going on.

Bruce had Alfred drive him to the Gotham City Home for Girls. Alfred could tell from the air radiating from Bruce that he was actually very angry. It took only a few questions to learn why. Whenever Bruce heard of mistreated orphans it touched a very sensitive nerve. When they pulled up in front of the building Bruce was out of the car before it had even stopped moving and was marching inside. He yanked the door open with enough force to shake rust from the hinges and shake the glass.

All of the girls were indeed scrubbing and doing back breaking work. Some were moving book cases, others were moving tables, some were scrubbing the floor and still others were on extremely unsteady ladders and cleaning the ceiling. His right hand tightened into a fist and he shoved it in his pocket. The bitter taste of bile rose throughout his mouth. The woman in charge was sitting, with her feet up, behind a massive mahogany desk, barking orders at the girls she felt were "slacking". He wanted nothing more than to reduce the desk to splinters but he knew that wouldn't really be the appropriate thing to do. The woman saw him and nearly fell from her chair.

"M-Mr. Wayne! I had no idea you were coming for an inspection today," she chuckled nervously and the girls that had been cleaning all stopped, turned, and stared.

"I always feel that surprise inspections are the best way to see what a person is really all about." The woman started to scramble for words, trying to find excuses for why the girls were doing such horrible labor, labor that they had no business being a part off. "Now, I would like you to know, I am replacing you. This," he gestured around the room, "and other information that has come to my attention has proven to me that you are not fit to be in charge of the wellbeing and lives of these girls. You will gather your belongings and leave this building at once and _never _return, am I clear." There was acid in the woman's eyes but what could she do? Bruce Wayne's money funded the house so what he said was the law. As she rose from her seat to get her things, the girl all began to cheer and yell, stopping their cleaning and jumping up and down in joy. Bruce smiled and waved the girls down trying to quiet them. "Now, where can I find Shaley Winters' belongings? I'm sure you've all heard of her horrible injuries and I'm-"

"Are you adopting her?" A brunette girl asked. She was short with grey eyes and a little plumper than she should have been. Bruce nodded and the girl squealed. "She's my roomie, I'll show you," she led Bruce to a desolate room with hardly anything in it and hardly any room for the three beds that occupied it. Shaley apparently only owned a small trunk's worth of things. It was underneath the bed and old, falling apart. He pulled it out and made a mental note to buy her all new clothes. There was an assistant who was there that helped him fill out the paperwork and who would only be in charge until he found a replacement. She was so terrified of Bruce coming back that the girls knew they were in for a great time now. Hopefully it would be more like a home now. Bruce hoped for them all that that was the case.

When he rejoined Alfred in the car he was in a vastly improved mood. The trunk sat beside him on the back seat and Alfred smiled when he saw the trunk and the paperwork in his hands.

"Taking in another stray Master Bruce?"

"You know me Alfred. I just can't help myself sometimes."


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh…oh my God," Tim was amazed at the utter joy that was radiating from Shaley's face. He had never seen someone experience such joy from food. But it was like she was going through the happiest moment of her seventeen years of life. "This…is the best…"

"Shaley have you _never _had ice cream before?" She shook her head and stabbed her spoon back into the little ice cream cup and enjoyed another mouthful making the most high pitched sound that Tim had ever heard. Tim bit his lips in a desperate attempt not to laugh. Shaley finished her ice cream cup in utter joy and when Bruce walked back into the room he walked in on a conversation about an apparently long list of foods that Shaley had been dying to eat. Apparently at the Girl's home she lived in, they got very bland, very boring, and very basic foods. Mostly soup and almost unsafe meat that had been cooked to death just to make it somewhat safe.

"About that," Bruce said, interrupting as Shaley got into deep detail about the gray sheen and odd slick coating the meat often had to it. Tim was grateful for it; his stomach was getting more and more upset. "I don't think that subpar meals are going to be a problem for you anymore. Nor lack of pain medication or a decent life for you and the girls at your home." Shaley cocked her head to the side and blinked. Bruce continued without more provocation. "I've replaced the woman that was in charge and I will make sure that there is no one like her who is ever in charge again. And also," Bruce pulled the papers out of his inner coat pocket. "These papers here, say that you are no longer a resident of the girl's home, but a resident of _my _home." Shaley blinked again and as the information clicked and registered in her brain, Tim walked over to Bruce and whispered at him.

"Bruce are you sure about this? I mean she's injured, going to need physical therapy-"

"Tim, it's my choice. I don't care if she needs therapy, she was burned and severely wounded and treated worse than an animal in a home that bears my family's name. It's the least that I can and will do." With that the conversation was over and Tim walked back to where he had been sitting on the edge of the bed. Shaley just looked back from one of them to the other and then at the papers that were in Bruce's hands.

"Mr. Wayne…you have impeccable timing…at midnight I turn eighteen…I would have aged out and had no way to afford this…I," her eyes filled with tears but she quickly blinked them away. She smiled "So do I call you dad now or what?" Bruce laughed and said that would be entirely up to her. Although it might make him feel a bit old.

After that they spent the rest of the day talking about the house, which room would be hers –any she wanted- and all about Alfred who would no doubt love having a girl in the house someone who would appreciate his cooking appropriately. Also they explained that the house was large and Tim offered to draw her a map while they were there so she could become accustomed to it. Shaley was ecstatic about the prospect of having an actual home to go to after she was discharged from the hospital. Bruce also said that she did not have to take his last name. If she was comfortable with the name of her biological family then she could keep it and he would not be offended at all. But if she ever wanted to change it, he would always be welcoming to the change. While they were talking Bruce realized he should make the nursing staff aware of the fact that he was now Shaley's legal guardian and that the insurance would need to be changed. While he was out, the nurse walked back in, this time with more bandages and wrappings and a pair of scissors.

"Time to change your bandages, we can't have you getting an infection." A look of utter terror crossed over Shaley's face. Tim reached out and, hesitantly at first, took her hand in his. Without a thought, Shaley squeezed it. She was horrified at the prospect of her legs, back, and her fingers being exposed to the air. The only reason that she wasn't in any real pain right now was because of the pain medication that was pumping through her blood. But the scissors might scrape against her skin, might tear the burns, or stab her. And the rubbing of the gauze and tons of wrappings would be horrible. And the thought of what she would look like, it nauseated her and her face paled in the horror she expected.

"It's okay, I'll be careful. How about I start with your fingers first. Eight of them may be burned but it should be less painful to start there. And I promise you'll be okay," Shaley nodded but swallowed hard and blinked even harder as the nurse started with the first finger on her right hand, the one Time wasn't holding. On her right hand all of her fingers were bandaged, on her left, it was her thumb, index and pinkie. Tim was holding her middle and ring fingers. The nurse slipped the bottom blade of the scissors under the bandages and slowly began cutting away. The sound was an odd, muffled, tearing noise. It almost sounded like paper being torn slowly. The smell was the first thing that Shaley was expecting to be hit by. She had read that burns always had a bad smell if they were bad enough. She expected her finger to smell rotten but all she smelled was antiseptic. The skin however was another story entirely. It was peeling back over layers and layers. Some layers were red, some layers were black and others were an odd grey shade and some looked like they were iced with blood. She gagged and looked away and Tim squeezed her fingers reassuringly.

The nurse gently pulled the wrappings away and pulled out a syringe and put a bowl under Shaley's hand. She squirted the contents of the syringe over the burned finger and Shaley hissed. Although she was full of pain medication, the syringe's filling was cold and it felt like her finger was being doused in cold fire. After that came the worst part, the drying. The nurse pulled out a mountain of cotton balls and she started dabbing the dry off the skin. After that, the nurse went to work on all of Shaley's other fingers. By the time the other seven were done the bowl was filled with bloody water. The new wrappings were tight and clean and stung like a bee sting. Shaley was surprised she hadn't cried, especially when Tim had been forced to let her hand go.

"Ok sweetie, I have to get your back now," Shaley actually whined at this. She sat up with the help of the nurse and Tim and leaned forward. Half of her back was bandaged and getting the bandages off was horrible. Some of the gauze was stuck _inside _the burns. The nurse had to peel the gauze out and it was an extremely painful and slow process. The nurse said she was sorry over and over and sounded sincere; Tim did what he could to comfort her. Bruce walked in while the nurse was getting the last piece of gauze out. After that she put a tray against Shaley's back an pulled out a large syringe filled to the fifty cc mark. She squirted the entire burned portion of Shaley's burned back and the water turned red instantly. The tray filled quickly and the nurse set to dabbing her dry with more cotton balls before putting more gauze and wrappings on. Leaning back on her back was quite possibly the worst experience that Shaley had endured during her stay in the hospital. It was raw and aching and she wanted nothing more than to be doused in numbing cream.

After that, it was time for her legs. This was what Shaley had really been dreading. The nurse allowed Bruce to help her lift Shaley's right leg and place it over a very long tub. She cut the bandages as quickly as she could and was pleased to see that there was nothing stuck in the burns this time. She quickly set to work rinsing the burned area. Apparently the fluid in the syringe had a numbing medication in it because Shaley's fingers were completely numb except for the ones that were uninjured. Her back, after twenty minutes, was starting to feel less angry but her leg that was a completely different story. Her right leg hurt so bad that she wanted to scream and despite her best efforts, tears leaked from beneath her tightly shut lids. For some odd reason, she felt ashamed. She didn't want to cry in front of her new family. Even though she hardly knew them, she didn't want to appear weak.

Bruce put a hand on Shaley's back and rubbed between her shoulders, even squeezing one in a comforting manner. The look on his face was very upset. He wanted to be of some greater help than just rubbing her back or shoulder. But that's what parents did, he told himself. He remembered his father doing the same for him whenever he had fallen or hurt himself. There was nothing he could do. Bruce now had a small notion of what that must have felt like. And small only because he did not yet have the depth of love for her that his father had felt for him.

The nurse did her best to dry the wounded area quickly and bandage it again quickly. She did the same with Shaley's left leg. It was too much for her really. She wanted to scream, she wanted to sob, but she didn't. She bit her lip until it was on the verge of bleeding. It took a full hour to entirely clean all of the burns, from fingers literally to toes. The nurse looked genuinely upset when she was done. She didn't really want to cause Shaley any more pain than she was already in.

"Hopefully the numbing medication will kick in soon and I'll be back in a few minutes with your medicine okay? Just try to relax," she quickly shuffled from the room and Bruce and Tim helped Shaley lean back against the mound of pillows on her bed.

"Do you want us to go? So that you can rest," Tim asked. He hadn't moved from the bed, except to switch sides when the nurse was flushing Shaley's burns. She shook her head.

"Well, unless you want to. You don't have to stay."

"We want to, trust me," Bruce said. "We'll stay until visiting hours are over and then we'll be back tomorrow, you aren't going to get rid of us that easily." He smiled and Shaley smiled back. The nurse walked back in with a saline syringe and flushed her IV before injecting the morphine. After a few minutes, Shaley managed to relax entirely against the pillows. Although most of her body was numb, there was still severe residual pain and the morphine chased it away. Dinner rolled around; chicken strips, mashed potatoes and gravy and mac and cheese. The smell was great but Shaley had a hard time eating it. Tim graciously cut the chicken strips up and teased her about feeding her; getting a chuck of chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy on it with some mac and cheese and trying to get her to eat it. She laughed and squirmed away before finally getting some food on her nose. Tim was laughing as well and Bruce just smiled at them. Shaley eventually managed to eat her dinner and when visiting hours were over she was really sad to see Bruce and Tim go. But as Bruce had promised, they were back the next day and the day after that.

The next time her bandages were changed, Shaley was able to move around better but that wasn't to only positive thing about it. Although what happened was indeed odd.

Her nurse came in and cut the bandages and wrappings off of her fingers to find that a lot of the burns on her fingers were nearly _gone_. As if she had merely burned herself with hot water and not been lying in a fire. The same could be said for her back and legs and the pain she was experiencing was greatly diminished. The nurse was mystified and Bruce and Tim were equally confused. By the time her bandages were changed for a third time, the burns were ninety percent gone. The nurse didn't believe it and brought in the doctor to see what the incredible progress that Shaley had made. Shaley was beaming the entire time. The fourth time her bandages-which were greatly reduced-were changed, the burns were entirely gone. The next day, she was discharged from the hospital and Alfred was waiting for them outside of the hospital in Bruce's least ostentatious car, which was still ostentatious by the standards of ordinary people.

"Oh my-is that seriously what we're getting picked up in?" She asked, staring at the custom Mercedes limo. Bruce nodded as Alfred popped out and waked over to them.

"Pleasure to meet you Miss Shaley," he said with a smile that lit up his entire face. "It is a pleasure to meet you," he reached out and took her hand, shaking it enthusiastically. Shaley laughed and smiled.

"It's great to meet you too, and please, call me Shaley."

"Good luck with that," Tim said smiling. "He still calls me Master Timothy," he said rolling his eyes. Alfred happily ushered them all into the car and drove them home. Shaley was ecstatic. She was out of the hospital; her burns were gone with barely scar to show for it.


	4. Chapter 4

"Yep, I am…lost," Shaley looked around at the hallway she was in and sighed. Tim had shown her around a few times now (if she was being honest with herself, he showed her around six times) and yet she couldn't remember how to get back to her room. She didn't recognize anything. She sighed and felt the urge to nudge the wall with the toe of her shoe. But upon looking at her shoe, thought better of it. They were brand new, still smelled like the box new. She had never had a new pair of shoes before and these were amazing. Bruce had taken her shopping on her second day in the manor to get new clothes and other things. The clothes were exciting for her and she got to put on a little fashion show for hew new dad and brother. When it came to shoes though, her mind had been blown. The price tags alone were shocking. But when Bruce said "pick whatever you want" she wasn't too afraid to pick anything. She had left the store with over four thousand dollars' worth of clothing and shoes. That didn't even cover the things that she had picked for her room like the bed spreads (she ended up with seven of them) and the rugs and the canopy and that was just the beginning. She really wanted to get back to her room.

Shaley walked to the end of hallway and looked down the stairs that were nearest her and the stairs that were near the middle of the hallway farther down. She took a chance and leaned over the banister and yelled 'hey' hoping that someone would hear her. Alfred did and when she saw his white head appear Shaley's face split into a massive grin and she rushed down the stairs to him.

"Lost again Miss Shaley?" she nodded with a bright flush over her cheeks. If it was anyone other than Alfred, she would have been a little bit embarrassed. But Alfred was extremely kind. He smiled at her and told her to follow him and that he would make sure she got back to her room safe and sound. She held his had like a little kid, which Alfred seemed to enjoy. Unbeknownst to her, Alfred liked to be useful for things that weren't always Batman related. And it was nice to hold the hand of a healthy person, not holding Bruce's hand when he was injured. He felt far more useful now than he had in a very long time. It seemed like only a few seconds when they were back at Shaley's room. It was easily the most noticeable room in the entire house.

For one, it had been painted a fun color. Purple to be exact. Alfred had painted it himself and then when Shaley had come home, Bruce said she could add to it if she wanted to. And that was when they discovered her artistic talents. She had spent an entire three hours sitting on the floor and painting what appeared to be a red sun with small planets speeding around it in a hazardously fast orbit. It wasn't a solar system that Tim or Bruce had seen but they both admitted it was beautiful nonetheless. When she reached the room she sighed a very heavy sigh of relief.

"Alfred you are amazing! How do you not get lost in this place?" She bounced into the room and pounced onto the bed in between the canopy sheets. A fruity smell erupted from the sheets when she hopped onto the bed and she inhaled deeply. Alfred smiled.

"Years of practice Miss Shaley," he wouldn't call her just Shaley no matter how much she asked him to and told him it was okay. She was just going to have to make peace with the fact that he made her sound old and get over it. "But I can teach you a few tricks to getting around," he said and she smiled up happily. "Oh, while I have your attention, Master Bruce and Master Timothy are going to be out for the night. A gala and a friend are claiming their attention for the night." He sounded apologetic.

"That's okay, they have obligations they need to keep to," whenever anything happened, Shaley made sure to be as understanding as possible and not take anything personal. Also; them being gone gave her time to learn the layout of the house with Alfred's help. And he didn't pick on her when she got turned around. She decided that while Bruce and Tim were gone she was going to do her best to memorize at least how to get from her room to the bathroom and back, and to the kitchen and back, and the living room and back. It was a tall order to fill in just one night but she knew that she could do it as long as she focused. And that was a lot easier to do now with a full stomach at any point she wanted.

That was another great thing about being adopted. She was actually fed now. And fed great meals. The only negative thing was that if she kept eating like a crazy person she was going to end up very much overweight and that was not something that she was looking forward to. Alfred made sure though, that there was enough food for second, third, and sometimes fourth helpings. That was the one thing that Bruce and Tim _didn't _tease her too much about. She was underweight in the hospital and when she had the chance to eat, she did so. They would never make her feel bad or ashamed of eating until she was content. Unless she got fat. Then they would have to get involved.

While Shaley was in her room watching TV on the medium sized flat screen mounted on the wall, she had no idea that Alfred wasn't walking around cleaning or in the kitchen making more snacks or doing laundry. She didn't know about the secret tunnel of caves under the Wayne Manor that served as the Batman's base of operations. She had no idea that right at that second, Alfred was down in the caves sitting at the largest computer screen with two audio links, one to Bruce and one to Tim. She didn't know that he was surveying the areas of Gotham they were working in for any hostile parties. Watching for Mr. Freeze and relaying any information that he could give to keep them safe.

"So, what's Freeze up to now?" Tim asked as he and Bruce swung from the nearest flag pole-bearing rooftop. His suit hid him in the shadows and the red glinted in the moonlight. Bruce was a living shadow and moved without the slightest sound to stand beside Tim once they landed.

"He's stolen more technology, killed eighteen guards in the process. But one of the guards managed to shoot and damage his suit, it's been leaking something the entire night," the lenses of his cowl had picked up the odd chemical and had been leading them to Freeze all night with it. It was an odd compound, one that Bruce had never come across before and he had picked up a sample to examine when they got back to the cave. "He's right in that building on the edge of the dock. It looks like he's got twenty guards with him in various key entryways." His cowl also had an x-ray setting and he was scanning the entire building. The technology was in the basement of the building along with several large boxes. It would simple enough for him and Tim to get in and get past the goons but dealing with Freeze was always an irritating matter. He loved using his weapons to turn the ground into a very slick playing field. And Tim hadn't been very exposed to a situation like that. It would be a good test and learning experience for him.

"You don't have any plans for Shaley do you? Joining the Bat-family I mean?" This was something that had been weighing heavy on his mind and unbeknownst to him, on Alfred's as well. Whenever Bruce became the legal guardian of a child, they always ended up working with him. After what happened with Jason, Tim had basically forced himself into the position of Robin, but had been very respectful of Jason's history by wearing a completely different costume. Neither Alfred nor Tim had any idea what position Shaley could possibly fill but it was still a fear that they had.

Bruce was silent for a moment, scanning the building for around the eighth time before he turned and looked at Tim. He knew that Alfred was listening in and wanted to make sure both of them heard him loud and clear.

"As of right now, I have no plans for Shaley to be anything other than a member of the Wayne family. That's all. Unless she finds her way down to the cave or puts it together herself, or shows that she has a very strong passion for wanting to help the Batman, then she will just be a member of my family and that's all. It is entirely up to her. Or if there is an intense situation that would call for the sudden initiation of a new family member." And with that the discussion was over. Alfred felt mostly satisfied with Bruce's answer.

After that Brue and Tim made short work of Mr. Freeze and the goons and got back all of the stolen technology. They dropped it off at the police department with a note for Commissioner Gordon. After that they hopped into the Batmobile and sped back to the cave. Tim was always a little awed by the speed and power of the engine in the car. It was like riding in an earth bound space ship. They changed quickly and went upstairs to find Shaley in her room watching TV. As they entered the doorway she turned off the TV and walked over to the bookshelf that made up the far wall of her room and dug around until she found a book that was to her liking.

"Hey Shaley, how was your night? Sorry we left you alone for the night," Tim said and walked into her room, sitting in a fuzzy blue chair.

"Oh, it's fine, you guys had prior arrangements and I'm not going to be ad about that." She smiled and sat back on her bed and opened the book.

"How about tomorrow we all go out together," Bruce offered. Shaley's face lit up instantly and Tim and Bruce both smiled. "I'll even let you pick where we go."

"Really?" He nodded and she grinned and closed the book, jumping into the seat that was at her new desk and fired up her new computer. "I'm going to pick the best place _ever_." The two men both chuckled and left her to her searching. After they left her room a thought struck Tim and he followed Bruce until they were out of earshot from Shaley's room.

"Have you taken a DNA sample from her? In light of the incident with the burns."

"Yes I took a piece of one of the bandages. I've had the computer running it since she got here but there haven't been any results yet."

"You mean she's not human?" Tim asked a little surprised.

"Not in the slightest."


End file.
